Planted Tank “Under New Management”

Dear PT Members,

It is with great excitement that I am here to tell you that The Planted Tank has a new owner. As of today we are now owned and operated by PetGuide.com. PetGuide.com specializes in managing online communities and has a proven track record of success with communities that they have taken control of. I have complete confidence that they will continue to support and grow the community to a level exceeding what I could ever manage myself.

Why?

I understand that this announcement more than likely comes as a huge surprise. I originally had no intentions of passing the torch and have resisted more offers to do so that I could count. PetGuide.com contacted me at a time and in a situation however that made perfect sense. They have vastly greater resources available to them and will be able to more with the site in a shorter amount of time than I could ever imagine.

Why PetGuide.com?

From a technical standpoint I’m sure you know I’ve largely been a one man show. I’ve taken care of running/upgrading/crashing our many servers over the years. We are now at the size where our site deserves more stability, better performance and more reliability. Something I can’t provide with all of my current commitments. The last thing I want to see is the Planted Tank suffer because I can’t give it the attention it deserves.

PetGuide.com has a dedicated technical team to handle these things.

What changes can I expect?

That is the great part about it. For the most part you won’t even be aware that we are under new management. Very little will change. The site will be snappier and more responsive but from a functional standpoint daily life on Planted Tank will largely go unchanged. All of the familiar moderating faces will still be here if they so chose.

It has been a great 10 years. Starting from humble beginnings as a personal site for my 55 gallon tank, we have grown into the #1 resource for planted tanks. I will remain as a member and can always be contacted via PM. Please feel free to contact me at anytime about anything PT related or not.

As you have read above, PetGuide.com has come to an agreement with Kyle and will now be the owners of PlantedTank.net. We here at PetGuide.com bring with us staff and resources to make this site grow by leaps and bounds. We provide the resources necessary to run this site and maintain the day to day technical and managerial tasks that are time consuming for one person.

With that I would like you all to know that this is still YOUR community and we are here to work with the community and the existing staff to keep this site a place for you to come and feel at home.

My name is Adam, please feel free to ask questions in this section of the forum and I will do my best to answer any and all of them. As of now I will be the only PetGuide.com employee to join the site, I am here to answer questions help with technical issues and make sure we are doing our job and keeping you all happy. If you have any issues, feel free to discuss below. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter in PlantedTank.net life.

Wow... kinda shocked... but 10 years is a lot! I'm still "newish" to the forum compared to others, but Kyle, you have done anything and everything possible to keep this forum up and running at it's finest!

Sorry to see you go, Kyle. TPT has been a fantastic resource and a great community. You are to be congratulated.

I've seen a few hobbyist sites like this sold off to commercial interests, who then try to monetize everything and alienate the community. Let's hope this doesn't turn into just another refrain of "Paddle faster! I hear cash registers!"

Congratulations Kyle! You've done a great job with making TPT what it is today, and I'm glad to hear that you will still be around to talk to on the forums. I hope that this opportunity will allow you to have more free time-- you definitely deserve it!

That being said, I hope that TPT will be unchanged under the new ownership. This is an extremely special community that can not be found anywhere else on the Internet, and it would be a shame for major changes to be implemented. I wish them the best of luck and give them my full support!

__________________

Last edited by Centromochlus; 09-11-2012 at 11:45 PM..
Reason: Rephrased

Kyle, I would also like to thank you for the tremendous job you have done maintaining TPT for the last 10 years. I have garnered a tremendous amount of information and respect for the site and hope it will be around for many more years to come.

Hopefully the site won't change too much and lose it's family friendly feel. I think that is one of the most important reasons I enjoy this site so much.

I sincerely thank you for your contribution to our hobby. Through your efforts and those of the Mods you have recruited TPT has become a value resource of the planted aquarium hobby. A new and exciting chapter begins both for you and for our forum!

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